Wow Trent! Amazing thoughts. Just goes to show that You and the gang are the smartest fans a guy could ask for.
Seriously cool stuff. Alas, Life with 3 small kids (age 6,9,11) -- plus many speeches and deadlines -- has left me with less time for writing and a need to focus. This is frustrating. I have seven lifespans worth of ideas and the last year has been a complete loss, fixtionwise... except for THE LIFE EATERS. I wish I had the duplicator from KILN PEOPLE! Or that I had a bunch of bright young writers eager to play in my universe. Seriously, could you two act as an archive of these cool hoonish ideas? Maybe organize them? I hope to find more time someday. meanwhile thrive With cordial regards, David Brin www.davidbrin.com --- Trent Shipley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The evident enthusiasm of a certain list member has > given me cause to ask > myself whether Hoon, as a literary creation, might > have broad-based apeal. I > think the answer must be affirmative. Indeed, Hoon > characters could have > such strong psycho-cultural charisma that they would > be the key to super-star > levels of comic, book, movie, and above all branding > success. > > The first item that strikes me about Hoon is the > degree of psychological > identification that they can elicit. I am reminded > of Stan Lee being > interviewed about kid sidekicks in comic books. He > hated them, but the > readers identifed with the sidekicks and sales went > up. More importantly, I > am remined of tatoo artists who told me, in the > course of researching a term > paper in grad school, that the most popular subject > for tatoos was the WB's > Tazmanian Devil. They couldn't explain why, but I > think I can. > > Taz is both Archetypal -- representing the id driven > oaf -- and a strong > reference for psychological identification. A lot > of men and women, of whom > many are given to tatoos, identify with the loutish, > gooberish Taz. In a > sense, Hoon are Taz-Lite, though it is not fair to > end the story there. Taz > fans like professional wrestling, monster trucks and > NASCAR. In constrast, > Hoon fans might like NASCAR but they also like > soccer and do not like monster > trucks and pro-wrestling. Hoon are not so much > goobers as surfer dudes. [I > say surfer dude because "yachtsman" rather limits > our target audience.] > > Of course, Hoon are not merely laid back surfer > dudes, they are surfer dudes > trapped in cubicles. This introduces an element of > Walter ? Mitty. Even > more, we get Arthur from the Tic. Hoon give us > Dilbert meets Taz, or even > more, Dilbert realizes his inner Taz. But unlike > Arthur, our Hoon Hero or > Heroes do not escape their nerdy existince merely to > become hillariously > campy homosexual nerds in tights and capes. > > We may know that most nerds traped in cubicles are > in cubicles because they > are nerds, and not the otherway about. > Nevertheless, there is hardly a nerd > who does not fantasize that he is a hero stuck in a > nerd's cubicle. What's > more many of those cubicle drones long to realize > their inner surfer dude. > Why not do both at once? > > The Hoon angle is even better, because everyone > resents bureaucracy. Hoon > give you the merchandisible opportunity to pander to > that anti-bureaucratic > resentment at every turn. > > So the formula is simple: > > Surfer dude (read Hoon) is traped in cubicle. > Surfer dude escapes cubicle. > Surfer dude realizes inner surfer dude. > [Realizing inner surfer dude allows] surfer dude > makes a better world. > Surfer dude becomes ["human"] hero (ala Batman or > the Shadow) > > > I [freely] advise you to produce a Hoon-based series > of comic books. I do NOT > believe that comic books are in themselves good > business. I think comic > books are a great way to create merchandisible > iconic brands. > > Unfortunately, I do not see Alvin and Huck as good > candidates for the job of > heroes. When I imagine the adventures of Alvin, > Huck, and Mudfoot I keep > comming up with Miss Marple or Murder She Wrote. Of > course, Nancy Drew and > the Hardie Boys used to work with the highly > desirable and perhaps an updated > version could again. > > But teens should not be your target market. Teens > have never experienced > cubicles, thus they have no need for cubicle > emacipation. Men 20-50 do have > the cubicle experice and emacipation need. > > One possible story starter would be a group of three > or four Hoonish reluctant > space pallidins in their hypespace surfing > free-trader. The story starts > when our heroes: > -- win the lottery > -- get their hyperspace sailing vessel as a gift > from mysterious retirees > -- win a lottery that was fixed by mysterious > retirees. > > They quit their accounting jobs, buy a ship and go > sailing around the Galaxies > being good natured laid-back louts, goofing off, > buying and selling stuff, > and doing good. Along the way they might: > > -- Expose the corruption of an Enron-like > super-giant-pan-galactic-mega-corporation spoiling > their plans for souless > globalization and saving small investors. > > -- Disprove Jophur lies that Terragens are planning > to develop nanotech based > WMD. [Not for distribution in the USA....] > > -- Stop religious fundamentalists from hijacking the > post-Garth Gubru reform > movement. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ===== . . * Please note. My email address of many years is changing FROM [EMAIL PROTECTED] TO [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... (Or else use [EMAIL PROTECTED]) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
